Structural and Functional Analogue of the Active Site of Polysulfide Reductase from Wolinella succinogenes

Abstract
Synthesis of [PPh4]2[Mo(SPh)2(S2C2(CN)2)2] (2) from [PPh4]2[MoO(S2C2(CN)2)2] (1) has been achieved to mimic the postulated {Mo(S)6} core of polysulfide reductase with two thiolates and two bis(ene-dithiolate) ligands. Compound 2 reacts with polysulfide to yield H2S, modeling the function of polysulfide reductase. The facile conversion of 2 back to 1 in moist solvent suggests that the interconversion of the {MoIVO} and {MoIV−X} (X = O−Ser, S−Cys, Se−Cys) moieties might occur in the DMSO reductase class of enzymes under appropriate hydrophobic/hydrophilic conditions.